Display and dispensing device



Apr-ii 30, 1940.

R. EVANS DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE Filed Feb. 12, 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 1 N g f INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

April 30, 1940. V N 2,199,196

DISPLAY AND DiSPENSING DEVICE Filed Feb 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. Jflm's k. fvfi/vs.

BYZ g ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. so, 1940 v v 7 2,199,196

- 2,199,196 DISPLAY AND DISPENSING DEVICE J James K. Evans,Indianapolis, 'Ind. 7 Application February 12, 1938, Serial No. 190,151

9 Claims. (01. 221-146) Thisinvention relates to adisplay type vendinconstitutes the main support portion. Mounted device. within the tubularboss and suitably secured One of the chief objects of this invention isthereto is a tube 18, the boss and the tubehavto display insubstantially all directions merchaning registering apertures l9 and 20,respectively,

UNITED-9} TATES iPATENT ()FFlCE- dise, such as nuts, confections, andthe like, for forthe admission of electric current conducting r 5 saleand when the device is vfilled and Viewed from wires 2 I. 7

any direction, all of the types of merchandise Suitably-supported on thebase as at 22 is an may be seen from any direction. electric motor 23which through a reducing mech- One chief feature of the inventionwhereby anism-drives a pinion 25which meshes with the the aforesaidobject is accomplished, is by the gear 26, rotatable on the stationaryshaft or ,1 0.

. be dispensed.

use of compartment forming spiral partitions, the tube l8. p pitchthereof relative to the height of the parti- The gear may be providedwith a friction clutch tion and the cross sectional area of the displayface portion 21. It may also be provided on its portion of the devicebeing such that the aforelowermost or opposite face with ananti-friction said condition applies. v construction retainer 28.Ananti-friction struc- 5' Another chief object of the invention is toture 29 is interposed between the gear 26 and the provide a multiplecompartment display and disupper face, of. boss I6. pensing apparatuswith means within the same A complementary clutch member 21a has a forilluminating and/orheating the contents to slidable but non-rotatableconnection, with a r sleeve 29. This type of connection includes a pinThe other chief feature of this invention 30 carried by the'sleeve andextending intoan whereby the last mentioned object is accomelongatedslot 3| formed in the clutch member plished, consists in forming themerchandise 21a. Concentric with the sleeve 29 and bearing compartmentsby means of two coaxial trans- 0n the underface of a lower supportmember 32 parent or translucent tubes and positioning, for is a coilspring 33 which bears at its lower end on 25 merchandise illumination,within the inner tube, the flange portion 34 of the upper clutch memasource of illumination, or for heating the .merber. Thus, the upperclutch member is norchandise, a source of heat or when bothilluminamall; constrained into cooperating engagement tion and heatingare desired, a sufficient capacity with the lower clutch member 21. Thetube l8 if) light bulb, or the like, which will provide both extendsthrough the sleeve portion 29. .30 illumination and heat. a The-lowersupport member 32 has a recesse Other objects and features of theinvention will .boss 35 withinwhich is mounted an anti-friction bepointed out, more fully hereinafter. structure 36, the latter beinginterposed between The full nature of the invention will be unsaid bossand thesta'tionary tube H! which 1310- derstood from the accompanyingdrawings and 'jects above the same and mounts :a socket. 31 .35

i the following description and claims. adapted toreceive a light bulb38. The terminals In the drawings, ,Fig. l isa side elevation of a ofthe socket are suitably connected to the supdispensing display deviceembodyingthe invenp 11119521} before. n i Socket 37 y tion and lookingat the same toward the'dispensreceive .a glow heating unit.

4.0 ing station. The lower supportmember 32 has a threaded v .Fig. 2 isa central sectional View through the ficnnect o as t W a p y, d p ef-.device. and is taken in a plane parallel to the erably thre mor rods su der d at th ir device as shown in Fig. 1. lower ends as atd'l andshouldered at their upper Fig. 3 isatransversesectional View through theends as at 42. A retainer 43 is aperturedas at 3 display andstorageportion of the device. M toreceive the reduced h e d upp r end 4545 In the drawings It indicates a base member ofthe spacing supportmember tll. A nut 56 provided with socket portions H adapted toreclampingly associates the retainer with the lower ceive cushionbearing portions of felt, rubber or support memberand the spacingelements 40. the like l2. The base I!) is recessed as at I3and The uppersupport or retainer member 43 is suitably secured to the base member Itand provided at its outer edge, with a band portion nestingly associatedwith the groove portion I3, 41, the latter extending downwardly as at Maand is the metal shell It, the screwslfi constituting upwardly as atllb.The retainer is also centhe anchorage before mentioned. trallyapertured' as at 48. This permits heat Extending upwardly within theshell is a tubugenerated by the light bulb 38 to escape from P5 lar boss[6 suitably reenforced as at ll, since this the central] chamber orcompartment formed within the inner glass cylinder 49, the upper edge ofwhich is nested in the groove 50 formed in the underface of the retainer43 and the lower edge of which is centrally positioned by means of theshouldered portion 5|.

An outer glass cylinder 52 is nested within the groove 53 formed in theunderface of the retainer 43 and is centralized in position by theupstanding peripheral flange portion 54 carried by the lower supportmember 32. This portion 54 is extended downwardly in skirt formation soas to peripherally envelope, as at 55, the upper edge ofthe casingportion I4 associated with the base element II). It thus will beapparent that when the motor is energized, the lower support member 32,the two glass cylinders and the upper retainer, all rotate as a unit.The nesting relation at the top of the glass cylinders provides fortheir expansion and. also for ready assembly without extremely accuratedimensioning of the lengths of the glass cylinders.

A cover member 56 has a downturned flange 51 which is telescopicallyreceived by the por tion 47b. It supports a handle member 58 by themeans indicated at 59. It is provided with a suitable number ofapertures 60 and the same are protected by a screen member 6i retainedin position by a retainer plate 62 similarly apertured as at 63. Theplate 62 is retained by the same means 59 before mentioned. The plate 43is in effect a spider arrangement, and is provided with six openings 64,one for each compartment formed within the two cylinders, so that heatfrom the central chamber within the inner cylinder escapes to the coverchamber and is directed downwardly by the cover into the severalcompartments through openings 64.

The base is provided with hopper like portions 65 similarly spaced andof like number. The hopper like portions are extended to form chuteportions 68 and each mouth or opening 67 thereof is closed by a swinginggate type closure or valve 68 having the stop portions 69 and the sidportions 10, the latter being pivoted as at H to the parallel faces 66aof the portion 66. Each of the closures is provided with the fingerpiece 12 secured to one of the side plates 10, as indicated at I3.

As shown clearly in Fig. 1,the casing portion I4 terminates at Ma andM1). These side edges Ma. and MD are in spaced relation and extendingradially inwardly and below the common level of the closure 68 is asupplementary casing portion I4 which forms a dispensing recess orpocket. The portion I4 is apertured to receive an insulating sleeve I5through which extends an electrical supply cord I6 terminating in a plugTI for receptacle connection.

The electrical supply cord within the lower or base chamber formedwithin the casing I4, is divided and one portion goes to a switchindicated by I8 and mounted on the portion I4. This switch controls thecurrent supply through line 2| to the lamp 38.

Oppositely positioned on the member 14 is another switch I9 whichcontrols the current from line 16 to the motor supply lines 88. When theswitch I9 is in closed circuit position, it will be obvious that theentire display mechanism above the casing I4 rotates and also carriedtherewith are the discharge hoppers which are concealed within thecasing I4, except when they register with the dispensing pocket orrecess.

It will be recalled that the retainer member is of spider formation,provided with, for example, six openings 64 and that the lower supportmember 32 is provided with six hopper like discharge portions 65.

A suitable number of partitions extending from the lower support memberto the upper retainer form a like number of compartments adapted toreceive articles of merchandise through the openings 64 and adapted tobe dispensed through the opening or mouth 61 of the hopper when theappropriate discharge hopper is registering with the dispensing recessor pocket and naturally when there is no rotation of the display device.While the openings in the retainer member and the hopper like dischargeopenings in the lower support member are in registration, the two do nothave communication through the same compartment, because the partitionsare of scroll or spiral type and preferably any horizontal sectionthrough the same, shows radial elements.

Herein there are six compartments formed by six spiral partition members8|. The lower end of each of the spiral partitions is suitably securedas at 83 in the grooved anchoring portion 82 having the upturned endportion 84. These portions 84 may centralize or locate the inner glasscylinder 49.

Similarly, the upper ends of the spiral partitions are receivable by thegrooved members 86 suitably secured thereto as at 81, said groovedmembers also being provided with downwardly extending portions 88 whichmay also locate the upper end of the inner glass cylinder.

The pitch of the spiral partitions with relation to the diameter of thedevice and the height, is such that the display device, when viewed fromany direction in the present embodiment of the invention, shows portionsof all six compartments and when the device is filled with merchandise,the six different kinds of merchandise, if there be that many ondisplay, will be all visible to the observer and potential purchaserfrom any direction, whether or not the display portion of the device isrotating or stationary.

By the arrangement shown more particularly in Fig. 2, it will also beapparent that if the merchandise to be dispensed is various kinds ofnuts and a rather large wattage lamp bulb 38 is employed, the heatgenerated by said light bulb will not only heat the inner glass cylinder49 and thus be transmitted to the contents in the compartments, but willalso pass upwardly into the cover chamber above the display compartmentsand downwardly about the contents in the various compartments. This heatis sufficient to prevent congealing of the oil on the nuts, whichusually is in the form of a film retained thereon as an incident to thepreparation of the nuts for sale, to-wit, in the blanching operation.Except for peanuts, practically all other kinds of nuts do not pack,that is most nuts except peanuts when in the compartments haveconsiderable voids therebetween so that the illumination from the lightsource passes through these voids and illuminates the adjacent nuts inthe compartments.

It will also be apparent that incident to rotation, there will be somevibration so that there will be a tendency of the merchandise, moreespecially nuts and candies, to pack, as it were, in the displaycompartments. If the partitions were vertical, said packing might resultin the clogging and failure to dispense. However, with the presentinvention, the weight of the merchandise to be dispensed is partiallysupported v ing normally open upper ends. 1

by the spiral partitions and these in addition serve as a slide-way forease of discharge and downward movement of the merchandise as the supplythereof is exhausted by reason of dispensing of the same through thehoppers. To refill the compartments, all that is necessary is to removethe cover mechanism. v

While the invention has been described in great detail and similarlyillustrated in the drawings, the said description and drawings are to beconsidered illustrative and not restrictive in character.

The several modifications illustrated and/or described herein, as wellas others which will readily suggest themselves to-persons skilled inthis art, are all considered to be within the broad scope of theinvention, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A rotatable display and vending device,

that the device when viewed from any side simul' taneously exposes aportion of each compart merit for various material display.

A device as defined, by claim 1, characterized by the additionof meanswithin the base structure having connection with said tubular rotatablestructure for rotation of same, and manually operable means for stoppingthe rotation whenthe selected compartment discharge control registerswith the recess.

3. A device of the character defined by claim 1, characterized by theaddition of an inner tubular wall, and heating means therein for heat--ing the compartment contents, each compartment communicating with thechamber within the inner tubular wall through the cover mechanism, eachcompartment and the chamber hav- 4. A device as defined by claim 1,characterized by the addition of'aninner coaxial light transmittingtubular arrangement forming the inner walls of all compartments, andilluminating means within the inner tubular arrangement for the purposedescribed, the illuminating means I I supplying heat to the compartmentcontents, each compartment and the inner tubular arrangement havingnormally open upper ends and communicating with each through the covermechanism;

5. A device of the character defined by claim '1, characterized by theaddition of an inner tubular wall, heating means therein for heating thecompartment contents, means within the base structure having connectionwithsaid tubular rotatable structure for rotation of the same, andmanually operable means for stopping the rotation when the selectedcompartment discharge control registers with the recess.

6. Adevice of the character defined by claim 1, characterized by theaddition of an inner tubuler wall, heating means therein for heating thecompartment contents, each compartment communicating with the chamberwithin the inner tubular wall through thecover mechanism,

each compartment and the chamber having nor mally open upper ends, meanswithin the base structure having connection withsaid tubular rotatablestructure for rotation of the same, and manually operable means forstopping the rotation when the selected compartment discharge controlregisters with the recess.

7. A device as defined by claim 1, characterized by the addition of aninner coaxial light transmitting tubular arrangement forming the innerwalls of all compartments and illuminating means within the innertubular arrangement for the purpose described, the illuminating meanssupplying heat to the compartment contents, "each compartment and theinner tubular ar-" rangement having normally open upper ends andcommunicating with each through the cover mechanism, means within thebase structure having connection with said tubular rotatable structurefor rotation of the same, and manually operable means for stopping therotation when the selected compartment discharge control "registers withthe recess.

8. A device as defined by claim 1, characterized by the addition of aninner tubular arrangement, an electric current operable device therein,a socket also therein detachably receiving the device, said covermechanism having a detachable connection withthe compartments andchamber Within the inner tubular arrangement, the chamber andcompartments having open upper ends for device replacement and com- Ipartment refilling, respectively.

9. A device as defined by claim 1, characterized by the cover mechanismhaving a restricted ventilating portion.

r I JAMES R. EVANS.

